


Of Peacocks, Corithials and Otters

by Equi_dragon1321



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood and Gore, Bonds, Draco needs a friend, Eventual Sex, Ferrets, Love, Multi, Poisoning, There is no cursed child, Torture/Abuse, anything else?, big story change, draco gets a character redemption, dracos an amazing cook, hybrid animal, im not letting some people die, others can, pottah is a good boi, some muggle songs are mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27688339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Equi_dragon1321/pseuds/Equi_dragon1321
Summary: Everything changes for Draco Malfoy in his 3rd year of Hogwarts, when something unusual is brought into the school, and forms a rare bond with him. He changes, and greatly affects the second wizarding war as we knew it.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, I've came up with an idea for the harry potter fandom, So I hope you guys enjoy!  
> Also, please don't steal my ideas on the corithial. He is my own creation/version, with his own looks and powers. I know that there are already a few of these hybrids, but this ones mine. Thank you! also, there will be quite a few time skips of a few days randomly, just to move the story along quicker.

Draco sighed as he hopped off the Hogwarts Express. he didn't know how he felt at being back at Hogwarts. he enjoyed being away from his father, seeing his friends and a slight few of the teacher, and some classes were pretty fun. but on the other hand, there was the mornings of getting up early, the teachers, classed and people he hated, as well as the crap ton of homework. god, how he had not missed that. being in 3rd year, he was going in the thestral-pulled carriages to the school like last year. Draco could see the thestrals, ha been seeing them for as long as he had seen the carriages. 

Damn his dad, and his love for sport killing. At least Draco's mother had shielded Draco from the most of it she could.

He hopped on the carriage and pushed his trunk under the seat. Blaise, Theo, pansy, Crabbe and goyle were soon in with him as the wooden wheels turned and spun in the direction of the huge castle, getting ready to host new students, and a fantastic feast. his stomach couldn't wait. 

\---

Draco closed his eyes for a while, letting professor McGonagall drone on about her transfiguration classes, and the glimmery sound of magic. he could also hear granger answering questions like she was in a one-to-one conversation with the teacher. Draco internally eye-rolled at this. he knew that he could beat her in potions any day. Stupid know-it-all. 

"Mr Malfoy! I do hope that you are paying attention?" he snapped his eyes open, and met McGonagall's angry eyes. he steeled his face immediately, and gave her a confident smirk.  
"I am indeed, professor. just listening to your lesson." she looked at him for a moment, then turned round to face her double boards again, and asking questions. at least it was going to be the weekend in a day or two. who's really counting, though?

\---

He didn't want to get up yet. the silk covers were so warm, and the room so dark. water shadows streaked across the floor from the window, where small shapes swam past occasionally. but, Blaise was screaming like a child for him to get up again, and Draco hated screaming. when the door was blasted open and Blaise hopped in, Draco leapt up and nearly punched him in the face. Blaise just wiggled his fingers and scolded Draco playfully. Draco glared at him, and looked longingly over at the bed before he reluctantly followed a skipping Blaise into the dorm room. 

\---

Draco scanned the quidditch field for the snitch, and narrowly dodging a speeding bludger. The colours of green and maroon were everywhere, as well as Halloween themed decorations. The school loved to theme up, even if Halloween was nearly two weeks away. Then, a nip of gold flashed past his view, and Draco kicked his broomstick on. He knew that Potter was hot on his heels, also spotted the snitch. Shit. They both knew that the opposite teams were points away from each other, and whoever got the snitch would win. Draco couldn't waste a moment to look back at Potter, who he would guess was gaining on him. He reached out his hand, an attempt to grab the flying golden ball. Then, almost out of spite, Potter flew over his head and almost skinned the snitch. Then, Potter's fingers closed over it. They both screeched to a halt as the announcer's voice boomed over the speakers, and Potter's smile spread over his face. Draco glared at him, and dismounted his broom. 

Time for his next class. Care of magical creatures with Hagrid. 


	2. Chapter 2

Draco sighed as he advanced towards the clearing near the forbidden forest. The last time he was in a COMC class (care of magical creatures) he was attacked by a bloody chicken. It didn’t hurt as much as he boasted about, but his father soon found out, and, from what his mother had wrote him, Lucius had almost jumped for joy at the chance to snag a shot at someone who he disapproved of. Draco didn’t really care on what happened to the hippogriff. What’s done is done, he says, and now, he had a class that, seemingly, was going to be taken by a cover teacher. Professor Grubbly-plank droned on about, what Draco had gathered, the sexism of unicorns. She was boring as hell, and at this point Draco would’ve preferred Hagrid’s eventful, dangerous classes.

A ruckus sounded from somewhere near them, and Draco, as well as the body of students, turned towards the noise, and curiously walked towards it. The noise came closer and closer even if the students stood still.

Then they saw it.

Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Snape had their wands drew and pointed at something that Hagrid and a few burly men were pulling at with thick, fireproof chains. The majority of the students screamed and ran back towards the clearing, but Draco was glued to the spot. It wasn’t fear that had him rooted, but an unknown feeling deep in his soul. The thing was fighting against the chains in a vicious way, trying to get to something it could attack. Draco couldn’t take his eyes off of it.

Then, when it was shaking and swaying its head madly, its gaze landed on Draco, and it froze instantly and held Draco’s gaze in wild, dark blue eyes. Almost spiritually, Draco slowly walked towards it. The thing, still keeping the eye contact, moved as close as it could, limited by its metal restraints. Draco blocked out the panicked yells from professors and classmates alike, only focused on the eyes of the thing. It wasn’t more than a mere few seconds before Draco was in front of it. Carefully, he reached a hand out to its chained nose. The thing made a noise which almost soothed Draco. It then gently pushed its nose into his palm.

Draco could hear gasps and shocked noises from the others, and could see movements out of the corner of his eyes. But his main focus was on it. Draco backed away from it and made a whistling sound. It perked up at this, and made a sound that echoed lightly in Draco’s ears. Someone hurriedly grabbed his arm from behind him and he got yanked away from the thing, much to his annoyance. The thing was also mot happy with this, as it began to fight and pull again to reach Draco. The burly men heaved with all they could, and spells were cast, but it broke through it al and ran to Draco, who pulled against the person dragging him away. He succeeded and once again, met up with the thing. Draco was drawn away by people shouting his name over and over. He reluctantly turned his back to the thing, now looking at a seemingly startled Snape, a gobsmacked Hagrid, and a thoughtful Dumbledore.

“Well, well, young Draco, seems like you’ve made an unlikely friendship.” Dumbledore stated, looking between Draco and the thing. Hagrid was trying to say something, only forming weak noises, but Dumbledore spoke again.

“Draco, I am curious on how this happened. But, before I state this, would you know what you just did?” Dumbledore had a playful spark in his old eyes. Draco shook his head. “No headmaster. What do you mean?” The old man smiled, stroked his beard, looked over at Snape and Hagrid, who both nodded cautiously.

“That creature behind you is a corithial, an extremely rare mythical beast. Legend says that a corithial will live alone, until a seemingly coincidental time when it will meet with a person it is destined to form a bond with. The person is destined too, and is something that not even death can break. Young Draco, I believe that you two are it.” Draco stood, shocked for a moment. He looked back between the headmaster and his godfather, other students muttering at what they overheard Dumbledore say.

His speeding, off-the-rails train of thought was stopped when a soft, but hard, nose was pressed against his back. Draco turned to see the eyes of the “corithial”, and after a second of contact, he felt something inside him twitch. Dumbledore was right. Him and the corithial was connected. Draco looked at the creature with a different view now. Something that only long-term best friends would see. Now that the wave of connecting emotions had passed, Draco looked to see the corithial’s figure. It was a bit bigger than that Buckbeak. His main body looked like a strong, muscled horse.its body was grey, and the grey faded darker as it reached the bottom of the feet. he had a large yellow stripe along his body. His front feet ended in blacky-grey dragon claws. His back feet had horses hooves, and then a sickle/dew claw that resembled a raptors’. He had a massive pair of sleek wings, and a pure black mane and tail. His dragon-plated chest was dark grey with flecks of gold, cyan and red. His two horns, behind his horse-like ears, had similar colour as well. He had a long, dragon-horse snout, and a mouth that had rows of sharp, serrated teeth. Taking into account the first time Draco saw him, he could also spurt rapid breaths of fire.

To Draco, he was magnificent. He reached his hand out to pet it, and the beast happily put his face into his hands again. Draco slipped one of his hands up the creatures face and undid the head-collar that was digging into the corithials head. Draco then met its eyes again. Suddenly, a voice spoke in his head. A voice he had never heard before.

**_Thank you._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh well that was interesting, wasn't it? Next chapter will have a picture of the corithial (I draw them myself so don't hate on 'em). hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a good Christmas! (or if ya don’t celebrate, hope you’re doing well). I just wanted to say that this fanfic is on the books, not the movies, and obviously, I changed stuff myself.

Draco sat outside Hagrid’s hut, the corithial at his side. Raised voices were coming from inside. About Draco. about the corithial.

Snape’s loud rumbles were heard over all. Draco knew who was in there, anyways. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape.

“....no Dumbledore, you simply cannot let Draco keep that thing! You saw it with those men moving it, and your common sense would tell you it’s too dangerous anyways! It could turn any minute!”  
Silence. Draco leaned in more to hear Dumbledore’s calm, soothing words.

“Nonsense, Severus. The corithial, although dangerous, will not harm Draco. Merlin, it would do anything to _stop_ Draco getting hurt. I have full confidence in those two.” Draco then heard McGonagall butt in.  
“But Albus, you know how Draco is. He could get that thing to attack other students, or-or do something like destroy things!” Draco curled his fists at that. He could hear Snape and McGonagall shouting at each-other, back and forth, until they fell silent and Dumbledore spoke up.  
“I understand both of your concerns, but I _know_ that everything will be even better than ok. You see, legend says that if the person the corithial has bonded with, and is in close contact with it for a while, will start to show their true colours. That is why most people believe the corithial to be evil, since they bonded with bad witches and wizards. But the opposite happens too. Lets not forget the good folk that had corithials, which helped them be better people. We will all see just who Draco Malfoy is in time. He will not harm any other student. I will speak to him on that, even though I feel it is not necessary.”

The great door of the hut swung open, and the professors flocked out. They turned their attention to Draco and the corithial. Draco noticed the glares of distain that it was receiving from Snape and McGonagall. It glared back.

**_“Who are these people, and what do they want?”_ **

The voice spoke in Draco’s head. He suspected it was the corithial, for some reason. It sure wasn’t his own voice in his head.  
 _Don’t worry, they’ll leave us alone in a minute. Hopefully._ Draco responded to it. The corithial beside him let out an unhappy snuff, which startled Snape and made him glare even more at it. Hagrid had come out now, avoiding Draco’s eyes, but gazing wonderfully at the corithial, with awe and respect. Draco knew what he meant. The creature was stunning, Draco could give it that. And judging by Hagrid’s love for beasts, it made him see the corithial in a more spectacular light.

“Draco, I have decided to let you keep your corithial, on some conditions.” As Dumbledore said this, the other three professors were walking up to the school. After all, there was still classes on. Some of which, Draco should be in right now. Dumbledore continued.  
“Walk with me. The both of you.” He didn’t say it as a command, but Draco followed anyway. The corithial shot him an unsure look. Draco nodded at him, and he got up, stretching his wings, and walked with them. Dumbledore smiled at the two.

“You two look like good friends already, but merlin knows that you two will get even closer. I do prompt you, young Draco, to do some research on him. anyway. Back to the rules. As you should know, you are not _ever_ to harm another student by telling the corithial to do so. He can stay on the grounds, and around the forest, but please don’t make a habit of going in there too much yourself. The corithial may be able to protect you, but it’s still dangerous. Another rule is that you cannot skip lessons for him, unless extreme circumstances, and he is not allowed inside the castle or any buildings except for sheds and stuff. Whatever he needs, feel free to ask Hagrid for it. I know you two are quite bad off since your hippogriff accident, but try to move past it. If you and the corithial do learn any tricks together, try not to injure yourself. Also, you are not to leave the school grounds with him, except for Hogsmeade, where he is only allowed near the village _if he behaves._ I think that about covers it. I hope you two do have some fun together. Now you should get to class. Can you tell your corithial to stay near Hagrid's, and not to attack him?”

Draco nodded at all of this. He turned to the corithial, and stroked its side.  
“I know you were listening, so go, I’ll meet you later.” He whispered at it. The corithials deep blue eyes looked at him. it backed away, flapping its wings gently, and trotted off towards the hut as Draco and Dumbledore went to the school.  
“oh, and Draco, one more thing. You and your friends may see some…. character change in you.” Dumbledore's eyes gleamed mischievously at him, before they headed separate ways in cobbled halls.

  
**_See you then, friend._ **

**_\---_ **

Draco sighed and crossed his arms. It was near the end of the subjects. He just wanted out. The story of him and the corithial had spread like wildfire, and it seemed that the whole school knew about it now. His friends were begging him to tell them, and random people of all houses and years were calling out to him in the halls. Draco had really only told Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise and Theo about his view of it. It seemed to have gone right through Goyle and Crabbe’s head. Blaise, as usual, was jumping about excitedly, shouting, “Draco's got a pet! Draco's got a pet!”. Theo looked interested in the voice Draco kept hearing, asking more about it. Good old Theo, top of the game.

On the other hand, even now, from the back of the class, Draco could see Potter, Granger and weaslebee talk in whispered tones, and shoot him looks at times. A lot of students were doing that now, but he couldn’t care. When they finally got dismissed from class, Draco stuffed his parchment, books and ink haphazardly in his bag, raced down the stairs, and out into the grounds.

He didn’t call out, just walked around for a minute. Then he felt something breathe hot air onto his neck. He slowly turned around, and was greeted with those burning blue eyes.

**_Well, hello there. Is your classes over then?_ **

Draco nodded. Then, he decided to put something to rest as he discarded his bookbag and sat down on the grass. The corithial lay down beside him, folding his legs under his body.

_If its you, the corithial, speaking in my head, nod for me._

Almost immediately, the corithial nodded its horse-like head.

_Alright then. That’s pretty cool. But then why didn’t you speak to me in class?_

**_Turns out, I can’t communicate with you that far, just yet. I'm still learning too. maybe the longer we spend time together, the longer distances we can communicate. To be honest, you are the first decent human I’ve come across. You, and a strange werewolf the others called “lupin”. He gave me something hard and brown. It was tasty._ **

Draco laughed at this, but felt sorrow within at the corithial being mistreated. Wait, what was he thinking, he was _Draco Malfoy,_ son of Lucius Malfoy. Why did he care?  
But yet, he did.

**_Hmm, someone’s not good at their emotions. But I do thank you for the pity, even though its not needed._ **

Draco jumped slightly at this. “how do you know what I was thinking!?” he whispered at the corithial. It gave an amused look, its mouth curving upward slightly.

 ** _Haha. If you think about it, you may think it’s because I'm talking inside your head. But, believe it or not, I'm not in your head. I'm making an incredibly low noise that only you can pick up, and in turn, you can do that too. We are connected, and that is how I see inside your head. That Harry seems a bit annoying, but your kind of laying your hatred a bit thick there, Draco. And is that how you really feel with blood status? Something tells me otherwise, just lies filled by your father. He does seem like a right old dick. No offense intended, by the way._**  
Draco scoffed at this. He did take offense, and no, he wasn’t laying it on thick with potter or the mudbloods. He just hated them. But the corithial was right about his father, though.

 _Do you think I should head to the library to learn more about this bonding thing?_ The corithial nodded again, looking pleased with the idea. Draco got up from his spot on the grass, picked up his bookbag, and started up to the school.

_Oh, by the way, that hard brown stuff Is chocolate. I’ll be sure to get you some more._

\----

Draco pushed open the library doors, and gave a curt nod to the librarian. He ventured further in, scanning the rows for the magical creatures section. He found it, and began to scope through. There was no book in particular on corithials, so Draco took a few books out, like _mythical creatures of the recent past_ and _rare beasts and their habits,_ as well as the famous _fantastic beasts and where to find them._ Draco headed for a small cluster of tables near the back and sat down at one. It was quiet down here as Draco began to comb through the books, looking for anything on corithials. He made it through a book and was moving on to his second when he saw three people sit down at a nearby table and take out homework. He raised his head, and saw their eyes glaring at him.

If it wasn’t the golden trio.

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes, making the other three confused. Draco really couldn’t be bothered picking a fight right now, and they noticed his silence.

“what’s wrong, Malfoy, not wanting a fight today?” Ron’s voice jabbed at him. Draco raised his head from his book again and put on one of his most mocking smiles.  
“Sorry, weaslebee, bit busy at the moment. If you want, we can always argue after.” Draco looked back at his book, ignoring the trio’s whispers and glances. Soon, they gave up too, and went at their work.

A while passed, as well as a few of Draco's books. He hadn’t found anything else yet. The trio was still working on, with the occasional complaint of a sore hand from Ron. Draco hadn’t found anything yet, and was getting a bit annoyed. He was on his second volume of fantastic beasts (guess what there's a second one in this universe so deal with it) when he struck gold. In the moment, he leapt up and shouted quietly, making the trio jump and point their wands at him. embarrassed that he done that, he sunk back into his chair, refusing to meet their eyes. He was sure his face was as red as weaslebee’s hair.

Shit. He shouldn’t have done that.

**_Hahahah. Aah, that was amazing. What made you do that?_ **

Draco straightened up at the corithials voice, and turned redder at its reaction.

_I forgot where I was. I finally found out something about you in one of these books. And please, don’t mention that again._

Draco went back to his book. Newt must’ve come across one, or maybe even bonded with one, for there was a fair bit of info on them.

 _It is to be believed that the corithial…._ blah blah blah….. _they mainly feast on meat, but can also eat just about anything they please. They are not really a social animal until they have met their bonded person. They will strengthen the bond, and can achieve incredible things. I myself have never bonded, so I look through old texts to find this, but even so, not much is known. The creature themselves are so rare that a lot of people just believe them to be myths. Often related to dark magic, they can block out many spells, even ones like the three unforgivables. They are incredibly smart and strong, and stay loyal till death. They use an assortment of things to help them hunt, like echo-location, thermal vision, sense of hearing and smell, and so on._

 _One mysterious factor they have is that, if they please, can stay hidden for as long as they want. No kind of magic nor creature can track them or their bonded if they are with them….._ blah blah blah… _the bond between corithial and witch/wizard can never be broken. They can communicate telepathically and can train together for seemingly anything. Able to be ridden, they would sometimes qualify for guarding together. The debate for the magical blood is something else, though. It is to be found that the muggle-borns, half-bloods and pure-bloods are are of equal odds. Interestingly enough though, the corithials and their bonded are able to reach more impressive goals if the witch/wizard is a pure-blood, which most likely comes from the heavy magical bloodline, as well as the corithials being very connected to magic._

_The corithial will remain docile (exceptions though, if a dark wizard/witch is bonded) until annoyed, or if the bonded are annoyed, and choose to attack other beings. The corithial would risk its life for the other, and vice versa._

Draco thought about all of this. It was certainly interesting. There was still some more info to be read, but night was advancing, and Draco wanted to go see the corithial before he headed to the common room for the night. Tucking the _fantastic beasts_ under his arm, he picked up the other books, put them back, and walked to the front desk, ignoring the trio’s looks. He checked the book out, put it in his bookbag, and headed outside.

The wind was picking up, nipping at his heels and cheeks. He spotted the corithial a little way over, and whistled loudly to get his attention. Its head snapped over, and it cantered over to Draco, burying his long snout in Draco's side and arm. He chuckled, and lead him over to a large oak tree near the black lake that shielded them from the winds.

_So, I found out lots, but I'm guessing you read them with me._

**_That I did. that lad seemed to know his thing. Good to know somebody does._ **

_I take it from your accent that you’re from Ireland. How’d you get here?_

_**Hunters. Took me down to England for a while, then up here. Scotland’s nice, but not as nice as Ireland. Where about do you live, or do you live here?** _

_Sorry to hear about the hunters. I kind of live here; I see it as another home, really. My family home is down in England. A large manor. So……since we’re bonded, would you have to come live with me? I know Snape would have already sent an owl to my parents about you._

_**I take it Snape is the hook-nosed man with the black hair. Yes, I would live with you if you want. But I would like to go back to say goodbye to Ireland though…..I never truly had a home. Never met my parents, they got killed. S’pose you’re stuck with me.** _

Draco couldn’t help but smile and run a hand over the soft mix of scales and fur. He wouldn’t mind the corithial living with him. at least he would have better company than just his parents and a bunch of house elves.

_I would quite like you living with me, actually. There's also something I've been meaning to ask you. Do you have a name?_

**_No, sorry. Never really needed one. S’pose I need one now. You can come up with it if you want. No stupid ones, though._ **

Draco was quiet for a while, thinking on something that would suit the corithial.

_How about………Ferdox. Latin-ish._

**_Hmm…I like it. Ferdox it is then. Seems you like Latin, since your name is dragon in English. Well, I'm like a dragon, so we’re alike from the start._ **

Draco smiled once again at the creature before him.

\----

Draco's voice was raw and sore. He and Snape had been shouting at each other for the past half hour. Snape wanted to get rid of Ferdox, saying he was stupid and dangerous. Draco highly disagreed, and argued his point too. Ferdox wasn’t stupid, and Draco knew he wouldn’t harm anyone he didn’t have to. Snape didn’t seem to listen to Draco though.

“Its for your own safety, Draco. I'm sure Lucius will agree that thing has to go!”  
“He’s not a thing, and I don’t give a fuck on you or fathers opinion on him! he’s not gonna hurt me, let alone anyone else unless he has to!”

They continued this even more, building volume, so much so that their voices cracked. Draco never got this annoyed about anything except his father’s dissaprovement of Blaise. Soon, Snape lost his edge. He collapsed in his chair, and sent Draco to the common room. As Draco left, he muttered to Snape.

“what will it take to show you that he’s not gonna attack anyone? What do you want us to do?” and with that, Draco headed up a small bit of stairs, forced the password out of his mouth, and dragged himself up to the dormitory. Blaise and Theo looked at him in concern, but Draco waved them off. He changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed, sleeping as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a long chapter, wasn’t it? In case you guys are wondering, pronunciations are:  
> Ferdox sounds like fair-docks  
> Corithials sound like core-ith-eye-alls


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco gets some letters from home, and does some class time. Blaise and Theo meet Ferdox, and a fight breaks out too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm sorry to say that I'm having some trouble getting the picture of Ferdox to work, but I’ll keep trying. Hope you enjoy, and if you celebrate Christmas, hope you had a good time. If you like the fanfic, please leave kudos, or a comment. Thank you!

Draco woke up with a slight fog in his head. Light shone in through murky waters past the window. Blaise was not yet awake, and Theo was pulling on a clean pair of trousers, clearly still tired. Crabbe and Goyle were still snoring, their fat hanging off the beds. Draco rubbed his eyes and gathered the willpower to get up today. His mind ran to Ferdox immediately. He smiled, and opened his drawers to get some clean clothes. Blaise stirred, and launched up suddenly, muttering something about garlic cheese crackers. As Draco tightened his tie, Theo walked over to Crabbe’s bed, and kicked the board. Crabbe woke, looked around dumbly, and hauled himself up. As he stood, he knocked Goyle’s bed, waking him too. Draco grabbed his wand, and walked outside the dormitory with Theo and Blaise. They left Crabbe and Goyle, and walked down to the great hall for breakfast.

The halls were flooded with students, and they pushed their way through towards the wooden doors of the cavernous room. They walked over to the Slytherin table and picked up their forks to grab some food. Draco felt like runny eggs and bacon today. He speared them roughly and began to eat. He surveyed the hall, looking from table to table. Above them, owls began to pour in, carrying todays usual deliveries. Last time, his mother had promised to send his favourite sweets. Draco gazed up, looking out for his eagle owl, Spurius. Blaise almost spat out his crumpet when his grey owl landed on his head. Draco then heard a familiar screech. Spurius hopped onto Draco's shoulder, and dropped a bundle onto his lap. Draco gave the owl an affectionate scratch and gave her some toast. She hooted, rubbed her face on him, and flew to the owlery.

He opened the bundle. A box fell out, containing his favourite treats; crystallised pineapple and melting marshmallow cakes. Draco raised an eyebrow when he felt something else inside the brown paper. Two letters fell out. Draco swallowed nervously at them, knowing damn well they weren’t about how he is, or gossip in school.

They were about him and Ferdox.

He opened the first one. He saw his mothers slightly loopy writing and began to read.

_Dear Draco,  
I heard about your ‘incident’. Severus wasn’t very specific, but he said you had bonded with a corithial? I only thought those were things of legends. But stay very aware on one thing, I am not pleased on this. Why didn’t you send a letter yourself, and this is highly dangerous to you, being with that thing. I don’t care about ‘bondings’, and neither should you. I would say how your father feels, but he has his own letter to you. Please, do not do anything dangerous, or do something that ruins your reputation. Please, Draco. Think about this. _

_Hope you enjoy your sweets,  
mother_

Draco sighed, hoping her reaction would’ve been better. But, then again, it would seem risky to other people. He slowly pulled the other open, and began to read his fathers letter.

_Draco,  
As you know, Severus wrote to us. Is it true? I have done my research on this corithial. It seems to be a creature of powerful dark magic. I know Narcissa wouldn’t agree with this, but I think it’s a sign that you are going to be a powerful man, like me. I'm in a neutral ground of happy and confused, though. He is worth his power, indeed, but could also mess things up. If you can control him, then I guess it is fine. Don’t get too attached to it though, Draco. Like any right person, be prepared to sacrifice him. _

_Lucius_

Draco was almost shaking with rage by the time he was finished reading. Fuck his father. How could he think of Ferdox as something to use, control, then throw away!? Draco wondered if that showed how his father thought of others, or even him. Theo and Blaise had noticed his rage, and Theo was reading Lucius’ letter. When he finished, he looked up to Draco, and asked,

“Is that how you feel about your corithial?” Draco shook his head furiously, and Theo nodded approvingly. Blaise, mouth full of sausage, looked at him.  
“Hey, when do you think its okay to meet your new friend?”  
“I guess at lunch is fine, if you two are up for it.” Draco answered. His friends nodded, and they finished off their breakfast and headed to their first class. Draco pulled out his timetable, and looked at today. They only had four lessons today, and the first was defence against the dark arts. He had heard things from the Gryffindors, who had a lesson earlier in the week, that Lupin was a good teacher. Draco would be the judge of that.

**_Lupins the werewolf who gave me chocolate so he can’t be that bad._ **

_Oh hello, how are you today? Sorry I didn’t have time to see you this morning. Seems like my parents aren’t too pleased about us, but that doesn’t matter. Also, my two friends asked I they could meet you at lunch. What do you think? I've actually got lupins class now- WAIT WHADDYA MEAN WEREWOLF!!?!?_

**_If you say so. And the professor is a werewolf, I could smell it, but he don’t seem aggressive. I also don’t mind meeting your friends. Seems fun. But fuck your parents. So, see you after lunch? Bring me something good if you can._ **

_See you then._

“..bro, earth to Draco!”, somebody shouted in his ear. Draco tripped on a stair, and scowled at Blaise, who smiled. Theo looked concerned.

“Draco, you looked like you were halfway to antarctica. What were you thinking about?” Blaise asked playfully. Draco scowled at him again, rubbing his ear, before answering.  
“I was talking to Ferdox, and please don’t shout like that.” Theo looked curious, and Draco answered his questions until they ended up in the DADA classroom.

Lupin looked around at the students, standing in front of a locked cupboard. A few students snickered at the state of lupins clothes. Draco did think he was quite shabby, but chose not to say.

“Right class, today we’re are going to be battling against a boggart…..” Draco faintly listened in on the lesson, mostly focusing on trying to speak to Ferdox. He jumped to attention when everyone lined up to fight the boggart. Draco drew out his wand and watched people face clowns, failure, judgement, and all of their fears. The person in front of him screamed when a vampire shouted out. They mumbled the spell, and soon the vampire grew big, long moustaches. Draco stepped forward, and looked at the rapidly changing boggart. The shape settled on a large, black werewolf. Draco instinctively stepped back. Professor lupin looked slightly nervous, and Draco glanced at him, before raising his wand, and repeating the words. The werewolf transformed into a big fluffy dog with wide eyes and a red cloak. Draco smiled, and went to sit with the other students that had defeated the boggart.

Class was dismissed soon after, and they headed out, talking about how brave they all were. Draco wanted to confront lupin on the werewolf business, and stayed behind, telling his friends to go on ahead. Lupin looked curiously at him as Draco walked over.

“Hello, young Malfoy. What is it that you need?” lupin had a friendly smile in his face. Draco had been taught not to trust anybody, especially werewolves, but he couldn’t help but feel safe around him.  
“I assume you know about my corithial, professor. He told me that you met him a while back, and gave him some chocolate”. Lupin nodded.

“Indeed. The men weren’t too friendly with him, and he seemed to like me. Why, is something the matter?”

Draco looked him in the eye, and said as calmly as he could,  
“He told me you’re a werewolf.”

Lupins face looked panic-stricken and beads of sweat formed on his brow. Draco noticed this, and going off what his boggarts form and how werewolves were saw, this wasn’t a good situation for lupin.

“But I won’t tell anyone. And I'm not scared of you, it was just that I once met this werewolf called Fenrir or something. He kind of brought a fear of werewolves. You seem alright though. My corithial trusts you.” Lupin seemed to calm at this, but flinched slightly at the name of Fenrir.

“thank you Draco, and I'm sorry about this. You should head to your next class. Oh, and good luck with the corithial as well. You name him?”

Draco smiled sincerely. “Yeah, I named him Ferdox. Thanks professor, I’ll head on now.” Lupin smiled too, and waved as Draco left. It was potions now. At least Snape favoured him.

\---

Draco walked into the potions classroom, nodding at snape, who pointed to a table. Someone else was there. Hermione Granger.

Draco wheeled around to ask snape, but snape spoke before Draco could.

“As I was saying, we are working in pairs to create a complex potion. Who you are paired with is determined by how well you do in my class. For example, Mr Malfoy and Ms granger are the best, and Mr Longbottom and Ms Parkinson are the worst.” Draco and Hermione smiled proudly, before glaring at each other. Snape said the page number, before sitting down and doing something else.

Hermione wanted to take the lead, but, as Draco was better at potions, he wanted to lead. They both reached for the stirring spoon. Hermione shot Draco a look before slapping his hand. Draco wasn’t taking this shit, and slapped her hand back. This resulted in neither of them getting the stirring spoon and opting for smacking each other’s hand. Most of the students were now watching them, with some people quietly shouting, “get him, Hermione!” or, “teach her, Draco!” neither of them saw snape come, until his shadow loomed over them. He was silent for a while, looking between the two, before shouting at them.

“Mr Malfoy, Ms Granger, is there a problem? Or were you both holding each other’s hands aggressively?”

Draco blushed a furious red, and scoffed. Hermione had a similar reaction, and snape walked away after handing Draco the stirring spoon, and Hermione the cutting knife. Draco smiled gloatingly at her, before they both got to work. Hermione busied herself with cutting the donkey hooves as Draco read out the instructions, readying the ingredients for her, and putting them into the cauldron.

A quick glance around told him that they had the best potion, and the approving look from snape cemented it. Soon, they were finished, and put a small bit of it into a vial and put it on snapes desk. He inspected and tested it, before he lazily congratulated them, and told them to tidy up. With a few grouchy words of congratulations to each other, they began to clear the desk. After, with still an hour of class time left, they sat down. Draco thought this would be a good time to finish the _fantastic beasts_ book, and Hermione also pulled out a few books. Draco opened it on his page, before reading on.

After a half hour or so, Draco noticed Hermione reading his book over his shoulder. He turned his head to look at her.

“any reason in particular that you are looking over my shoulder, Granger?” she spun around quickly, before facing him again, and answering smartly.  
“I was curious what you were reading. Doing research on your corithial?” she asked it with a slight friendliness. It intrigued Draco, so he decided to continue with moderate kindness. Plus, Granger was better than Pottah and weaslebee because she was smart enough for a decent conversation.

“Yeah, I want to know what’s best for him. why, anything you noticed?” she nodded enthusiastically, despite them being enemies.  
“Uh huh, when I first saw him, I wanted to check all I could. I've got some books with good information if you want me to show you.” Draco nodded too, and the two launched into a conversation about corithials and Ferdox, and other things, like subjects.

By this time, Draco barely noticed that quite a few people were finished. Harry and Ron, among them. Draco was oblivious to them. Ron was muttering furiously about Draco acting friendly to Hermione. Harry, too, was concerned. But neither of them knew what they were talking about.

As much as Draco didn’t want to admit it, he was thoroughly enjoying his conversation with Hermione. She too was having fun with this. As snape called a halt to the lesson, and the students began to pack up for lunch, Draco stuffed his books into his bag. Just before he folded the leather over, Hermione put another book into his bag. Before he could stop himself, he gave her a genuine smile, and whispered a thank you. She smiled back, and left with Ron and harry, and Draco was left wondering what the fuck just happened.

\---

Draco, eager to see Ferdox, shoved the last of his sushi into his mouth and gathered Theo and Blaise. They walked out of the hall, and were met with a slight November chill and he pulled his robes tighter. He called out to Ferdox, not seeing him anywhere, until Theo yelled out in surprise. Draco turned around to see Ferdox gliding down to them. He landed near Draco and stuffed his face into Draco's robes. Draco pet his mane gently, and heard Theo whistle in awe. Blaise, meanwhile, was bouncing about like usual. When Ferdox’s head emerged from Draco's robes, his blue eyes flicked to bouncy ball Blaise. He turned his body over to Blaise, snuffed curiously, and leaned his neck in. Blaise stood still “ _hallelujah’, Draco couldn’t help but think”_ and reached a hand out, stroking Ferdox carefully. Theo joined in, patting and rubbing Ferdox’s shoulder blade. All three boys were grinning, and Ferdox had his eyes closed in comfort. Then, Blaise spoke up.

“do you ever think of riding him? like a horse or something?” this made all of them look at Blaise with interest, and Draco saw Ferdox's mischievous grin.

**_Its good to me, if it is for you. It could be fun._ **

_I like it, but maybe I should learn how to first. I'm almost positive that riding you is not going to be like riding a broomstick._

**_Haha, indeed. We should start learning tomorrow._ **

Theo alerted them then that the next class was about to start. Transfiguration. They bid goodbye to Ferdox, who bowed his head, and opened his wings and flew off, over the school rooves.

\----

Professor McGonagall looked around the class, eyes zeroing in on Draco, most likely about Ferdox. The lesson dragged on, McGonagall reading through, and setting questions for them. Draco almost fell asleep, but didn’t want to get into trouble, so he forced his eyelids to stay open. He almost cried out in relief when the class got dismissed, and he ran out as fast as he could. One more class. He looked at his timetable, and his stomach fell slightly when he read it.

Care of magical creatures.

\----

Hagrid strode out of his hut, fang trailing by his side.  
“Right then, everyone get your flobberworms!” he boomed, looking through the class of Slytherins and gryffindors. Just then, a few students screamed and ran forward. Draco already knew who it was, so without turning around, he reached his arm out backwards, and grazed soft fur. He smiled gently. Some of the students, like Blaise and Theo, moved back towards their spot and listened back to Hagrid, who was gazing fondly at Ferdox.

“Alright, the corithial can stay, but only if he stays away from the main body of students. Tha’ alright?”

**_Should I do what he says?_ **

_Yeah. Let’s go over here._

Draco picked up his flobberworm box and went to the end of the line. Ferdox bounded happily beside him, but as he saw a rabbit in a cluster of trees, he glanced at Draco, and ran off momentarily to chase it. Hagrid didn’t speak much, but walked around, giving tips and help to whoever that needed it. Most of the students took nervous looks at Ferdox before returning to work. Draco kept getting nudged in the back and getting tipped forward by the corithial, much to the amusement of Blaise, Theo, and a few of the gryffindors. Draco finished fairly quickly. Just as he finished, he heard Ferdox's laugh echo in his head, before getting nudged into the table. He turned around, giving Ferdox a scolding look, but he just rolled his eyes, and began to lie down. Draco sat down beside him, leaning against a tree. Hagrid gave him a nod as he inspected his flobberworm. Draco heard something like hushed arguing, before Hermione Granger strode over and knelt down, followed by the gaze of basically everyone, including a raging Ron and confused harry. Hermione spoke up gently, looking slightly nervous but confident.

“Hey, mal-Draco, can I ……pet him?” She said, voice quivering with an uncertain edge. Draco summed his situations up, and, as a thank you for the book, he decided to play nice.

“of course. We don’t mind. His name's Ferdox.” She looked relieved, and tentatively reached a hand out to Ferdox. He looked at her for a moment, before getting up, and pressed his head into her chest. Hermione froze for a moment, before laughing and petting his neck.

**_Oh, I like her._ **

Gasps came from the people watching, and Draco saw Ron storming over to them, harry desperately trying to pull him back. Ron reached Draco, who got up quickly. Ferdox’s ears pricked and pulled his head away from Hermione slowly, who went over to Ron. Ron’s face was as red as his hair, and he was making wild gestures with his arms.

“You…. you…..you dick, Malfoy! What are you planning, you fuck!?!” Ron yelled, spitting over Draco a bit. Draco looked at him calmly, before saying,

“Be careful of your language, Weasley. There's children here.” This made Ron even more angry. Then, without warning, Ron swung a fist that connected hard with Draco's jaw. A crack sounded, and Draco bent down, blood spurting and splashing onto the bright green grass. Shouting erupted around, and Draco felt a knee hit his ribs, and hands pushing down at his shoulders. He was knocked onto the ground, and his head bashing against the tree violently, and felt a wetness there. He was ready to block another hit, when he heard Ron scream and a terrible growling above him. his eyes were dizzy and his mouth felt like fire, as well as his side. He couldn’t even feel his head. He felt rough, large hands pick him up and walk him away up a hill, figures trailing behind, shouts dull in his ears. Light filtered through his eyelids, and he was dropped onto a soft surface.

More shouting. Only one thing could Draco make out.

Ferdox's voice in his head.

**_Draco, friend, are you alright?! I won’t leave you, no matter what they say.._ **

Draco slipped into darkness, enveloped in his thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione’s P.O.V, starting at Snape's class. She sees the day unfold, like the care of magical creatures class, and what happened that Draco didn’t see.

Hermione smiled back at Draco, and walked out of the dark potions room. Immediately, Ron and harry bombarded her with questions and accusations. She could barely understand their words through all the speeding babbles. She put her hands over the boys mouths.

“One at a time please, you two. I can’t make out what you’re saying!” she said, sending them dirty looks. They looked at each other for a moment, before Harry asked, “What was that in potions?”

“I was curious what he was reading, and it was about his corithial. Since I did some research myself, we talked about it for a while, as well as the potions and things. No, we are not friends, yes, he was behaving himself, and, for your knowledge, his knowledge isn’t too bad to talk with, even if he is a slippery ferret.” She sighed, looking between them. Harry looked fairly satisfied, wanting to know if he was insulting her, but Ron was still looking like smoke could be coming from his ears. Even compared to Draco and Harrys rivalry, Ron and Draco were on worse terms, mostly because of their parents, and ‘blood traitors’. It didn’t help that he was easily annoyed.

Hermione looked at her timetable. Shit, it was divination. Since she quit, she had a spare hour and half. Harry and Ron noticed this, and waved her off as they ascended up the rickety ladder. Hermione’s back was aching due to the heavy bookbag. She wanted to go outside for a breather, and might as well drop her bag off at the common room. Hopefully, sir Caledon would let her in quickly. She climbed down the stairs, some moving above her head. She reached the entrance portrait and recited the new password. The knight in the painting drew his sword, yelled at her, but let Hermione in.

She passed a few second years who sent her interested looks before returning to exploding snap. She practically threw her bag onto the bed, bolted down the stairs and skipped through the empty halls. She reached the large door and pushed it open. Since December was only a week away, the wind was pretty bitter, ready for snow. Hermione smiled as the smell of pine gently flooded her nose, and how the grass crunched satisfyingly from under her. She roamed the hills and fields, past Hagrid's hut, and carefully edging around the whomping willow.

She noticed something a bit in front of her path. Something big. It raised its head, and Hermione's mind whirred as she figured out what it was. Malfoys corithial. Fear grew inside of her. Who’s to know that it wouldn’t attack her? Her research didn’t inform her about any of this..

It spotted her, and let out a unique sound. Hermione was frozen in place, continuing to look it in its dark ocean eyes. Hermione knew that most animals couldn’t stand eye contact for long, but the corithial seemed to stare deep into her soul, a gaze confident and cool. Hermione, although curious, thought it better to continue her pleasant walk. She went to get around it, keeping a good eye on it to make sure it didn’t try anything. But it stayed calm, watching her back, and then peacefully trotted off in a different direction. Hermione was in a relieved happiness in seeing the corithial. She liked him.

\---

Hermione entered the great hall, and saw Harrys messy hair, and Ron’s fiery hair. She sat down beside them, ginny and Neville opposite them. Hermione was starving from the walk, and she began to tuck in.

“So, ‘mione, what did ya get up to?” Harry asked. Hermione looked at him for a split second, before eating more food, swallowing, and answering him.

“Nothing much, just went for a walk. It was quite nice. Oh, and I got to see Malfoys corithial. From a distance, of course. I'm still not sure If its safe.” Harry nodded, and picked up some more food. Ron almost spat out his pumpkin juice.

“Hermione, do you not have any sense!? don’t even look at that thing! Its Malfoy’s pet, so it’s bound to be just as evil as he is.” He almost shouted, making poor Neville cover his ears. Ginny hushed him quickly.

“Actually Ronald, it was quite good. Just looked at me for a moment, then politely moved away. I appreciate the concern, but do remember that _I'm_ the one who has done research on it.” Hermione ignored him after, and began to talk to ginny.

After food, she, ginny, Ron and harry walked outside to take a break. They heard laughing, and went over to check it out. Down on the decline of the hill, they saw Malfoy, Blaise, Theo and the corithial together, them petting the horse-dragon creature. Ginny, this being the first time she saw the corithial, gasped. Ron scoffed, and they headed back inside for their next class.

\----

Hermione had 2 classes now; ancient runes and muggle studies. She decided to go to muggle studies now, having her bag slung around her back. She entered the classroom and took a seat. The next while passed in a blur, the teacher droning on about electricity. She already knew this stuff, but thought the subject easy enough to take. Merlin knows she won’t see many Slytherins in here. When they got dismissed, Hermione reached under her shirt collar and pulled out the time turner. She spun it once, sending her back an hour. She met Ron and harry on the staircase on their way to ancient runes. Today, they were ging to learn about the symbols of dark magic. When they entered, it surprised them to see lupin chatting to their runes teacher. He smiled welcomely at the trio, and Mrs babbling took charge of her lesson, settling the Ravenclaws and gryffindors.

Apparently, some dark sorcerers used rocks and symbols to communicate and show messages to other evil witches and wizards. Some of them got drew up onto the board, and others were shunned away because of their incredibly bad meanings. Soon, the class ended. Only one more class today. They headed to the common room to drop the bags off (for Hermione, the second time today). They ran down the grassy slope and joined the Slytherins, who were grabbing their flobberworm boxes. Hermione’s flobberworm, whom she named Rickert, was fat and well cared for. Some students looked behind them, and screamed, running forward. Hermione looked too, and saw the corithial walking up to Draco's back. She, too, backed away from it. She saw Draco smile and reach a hand out behind him, and his pale hand ran across the fur of it.

Some students went back over to their places and began to work. Hagrid then spoke up, asking politely for Draco to move the corithial. Draco nodded, and him and the creature went to the end of the line. The students began to work again, some still on edge. Hermione and a few others noticed that Draco was getting playfully shoved by his corithial, making him spill leaves and knock his table. Hermione giggled at their antics, and went back to work. Draco was finished in record time, and got pushed hard onto the table. He chuckled; a sound Hermione had only heard with a tone of evil. But this laugh was pure. He silently scolded the corithial, and both of them went to sit against a tree. Hagrid looked at his flobberworm just as Hermione got cleaned up herself.

She felt Ron grab her arm.

“That pricks just lying down in the middle of the lesson. Bet you anything the thing beside hims gonna go for someone.” Hermione slapped him in the side, saying that it wouldn’t attack anyone.

“then go prove it!” he said, thinking Hermione would back down. But she wouldn’t. as confidently as she could, she marched over to Draco and his corithial, feeling fear. She crouched down beside them, knowing that the other students were watching. The corithial raised its head, and Draco looked at her curiously.

She picked up her confidence. “hey mal-Draco, can I…..pet him?” Through his eyes, she saw Draco figure things out, before he smiled and said,

“Of course. We don’t mind. His name’s Ferdox.” She felt a surge of relief, and slowly reached out a hand to the corithial. Ferdox. Sounded Latin. He looked at her, then stood up. Her worry came back, before it shoved its head into her. She felt his soft ears and hard horns, and laughed as she pet his velvety neck.

Then, Ron came over, fuming. Harry looked panicky, trying to stop him. Ron ran over, flailing limbs wildly, then spluttering out curses and insults, which Draco coolly replied to.

Then, Ron’s fist hit Draco in the jaw, and Hermione heard a crack. The Slytherins, and even some gryffindors, booed and hissed, causing an uproar. Ron then grabbed Draco by the shoulders, kneed him in the ribs, and pushed him down. Hermione felt sick when his head hit the tree trunk, and blood splattered way up it’s rough bark, Ron, Draco and the ground, and was slowly building up.

Draco himself looked highly disorientated and in pain. Ron raised his foot, ready to strike, when the corithial ran forward and reared up, roaring, spitting small fireballs high above them, and beating the air with thick talons. Ron screamed, and got pushed out of the way as Hagrid lunged over, picked Draco up, and ran towards the school. Hermione, Blaise, Harry, Theo, Ron and Ferdox followed. Hagrid was muttering “not again…” over and over, Draco's blood seeping wetly through his clothes. Ferdox was running around them madly, bucking randomly and swerving in to nip at Ron. Hermione and Theo ran in front of Hagrid and pushed open the huge doors. Students around the halls scattered, screamed and whispered. It was a terrifying sight. Ferdox had followed them in, and Draco's head was now leaking a blood trail onto the floor, and Blaise and Hermione were shedding tears. Hearing all the ruckus, snape, dumbledore, and McGonagall ran round the corner, ready to shout, until they saw Draco.

Dumbledore turned paper white, and McGonagall gagged at it. Snape, as white as dumbledore, led the way to the hospital wing. They lay him on the bed quickly, and the nurse waved her wand over him, muttering spells. She ushered them back to give her room to look properly at him. Ferdox was still there, pawing at the stone floor. Nobody had the heart to take him out of the room. Madame Pomfrey had a poker face on her as she went over to the silent group.

“He suffered major head trauma, immense blood loss, a broken rib and a cracked jaw. He passed out a moment ago, and I'm keeping him here for a while. How did this happen?”

Snape spoke up after sighing with relief, his voice shaking with rage and worry. “yes, indeed, what happened Hagrid?”

The adults all listened in on the story. Snapes eyes were gleaming with malice. So was McGonagall’s. Dumbledore looked incredibly disappointed at Ron. Dumbledore sent Hagrid off to get cleaned up and send the other students inside. Dumbledore looked at Ferdox, who was laying protectively beside Draco's bed. He beckoned the nurse over, and asked her if Ferdox could stay, if Hagrid fed him and let him out a few times a day. She agreed, as long if it didn’t disturb anyone.

Then, the professors rounded on Ron. Snape was shouting that Ron should be immediately expelled. McGonagall was also very mad, but wasn’t saying anything about punishments.

“No. I don’t think we should expel Mr Weasley. Maybe a short suspension and a heavy load of detention?” snape didn’t agree with this, and soon a controlled argument broke out. Ron walked over to harry and Hermione. She took a good look at him. blood was over his fists and legs. Hermione didn’t know what to do so she punched him.

“What the fuck was that for?!” he asked, rubbing his face. Hermione wanted to hit him again, but thought better of it.

“I know Malfoy could be a dick, but he did nothing to provoke that!! You nearly killed him Ron, ‘what the fuck’ yourself! Is there something wrong with you to make you hurt someone like that? Now you’ll get seriously punished, let alone what Lucius will do if he finds out! I don’t think it’s the corithial we have to watch out for!” this stunned Ron. Harry was shook, and kept looking at Malfoy's bloody form, unconscious in the hospital bed. Hermione felt another flood of emotions hit her, so she went over to Draco's bed, pet Ferdox reassuringly, apologized quietly to Draco's body, whispered goodbye to harry, Theo and Blaise, and left to go find ginny in the common room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco wakes up in the hospital wing, and Ferdox is there to explain everything to him. over the course of a few days, he catches up with people and work, makes some amends, finds out some very interesting things, and goes to Hogsmeade with his pals and his furry boi.

The first thing Draco noticed, or really felt, was that he was not in a familiar bed. He opened his eyes, sticky with sleep. He noticed the grey stones of the castle walls, and the white beds and curtains dotted about. He was in the hospital wing.

The previous events came back to him faster than a hummingbirds wings. Care of magical creatures class. Hermione asking to pet Ferdox. Weasley getting mad. Punching his jaw, kicking his ribs. Him falling. His head feeling very weird. Getting carried somewhere, most likely here. Voices. Ferdox. Draco now noticed the thudding pain in his head. He groaned at the pressure of it.

Slowly, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed, and surprisingly, his feet felt soft fur and warm skin under them. Draco could recognise that feel anywhere now. Ferdox's head came into view.

**_Lie back down. The nurse will be back in a second._ **

Draco tried to shake his head, but found himself hit with a wave of dizziness. He followed Ferdox's orders as the corithial got up and licked him in the hand.

**_We all missed you. You were out for quite a while. Over 2 weeks, actually._ **

Draco spluttered in surprise.

_2 weeks?! I have a lot of catching up to do then. what happened after…. I went down?_

**_Short story is, you hit your head when you fell. There was a fuckload of blood. I ran over to protect you, and the big man picked you up. Bouncy ball, Theo, scar-lad, nice woman, me and the tomato bastard followed. Then the older ones saw, and we took you up here. Bouncy ball and nice woman were really upset. The older ones started shouting about what to do about tomato bastard, and nice lady smacked and shouted at him. So far, scar-lad, nice lady, Theo, bouncy ball, a weird black haired girl, big man and the older ones came to see you. Scar-lad even apologised, and got you some gifts with Theo, nice lady and bouncy ball. I didn’t really leave you, even though big man wanted me to. You'll have to tell me their real names, though._ **

_Thank you, Ferdox. For…. everything. And nice names for everyone, by the way. Bouncy ball is Blaise, Big man is Hagrid, nice girl is Hermione, you can keep bastard tomato, scar-lad is harry and I'm guessing the black haired girl is pansy._

**_Thanks. I'm going to keep Blaise as bouncy ball though._ **

The nurse came through the doors, looking at a sheet of parchment. She gasped when she saw Draco awake, and ran over to check him. she gave a happy grin afterwards.

“Well, Mr Malfoy, I think you’re good to leave tomorrow. Now, do take it easy. That headache will stay for a week or two, but the nausea and dizziness will go soon. I’ll get the professors now. They told me to get you when you woke up.” She rushed off, leaving Draco and Ferdox alone. Draco began to stroke Ferdox methodically.

The doors blasted open, and snape, dumbledore, McGonagall, Blaise and Theo burst in. they ran over to Draco, who saw Ferdox back off to let them see their friend. Blaise and Theo shook his hands excitingly, Blaise about to cry. The professors looked immensely relieved, snape holding Draco's shoulder for a few seconds before letting go.

“Good to see you awake, Draco. Are you feeling alright?” dumbledore asked, looking at Draco's head. Draco nodded at him.

“That’s excellent. You worried all of us. I'm sure you have some questions, so answer away.” His friendly smile warmed Draco for some reason.

“uh…. how am I going to catch up on work and.. what’s going to happen to Weasley?” snape was the one to speak up now, scoffing at Weasleys name.

“not enough, Draco, I feel. He got a few howlers, a 3 week suspension, and 3 months’ worth of detention. He’s back now though. I'm sure your friends can help you catch up. Oh, and here is some gifts and letters from your parents and your friends. Your parents were alerted the night of the accident. Lucius was probably going to get Weasley in Azkaban if dumbledore didn’t step in.” Draco nodded again, for it was easier than speaking in the current moment. The professors and his friends left, letting Draco go back to petting Ferdox, and feeding him sweets that Draco didn’t eat. He picked up his mothers letter and teared open the envelope.

_Dear Draco,_

_I sincerely hope you are alright. Snape told us what happened. Your father and I are very mad at that Weasley fuck, and excuse my language, but he deserves a worse punishment than what he got. I was told that your corithial saved you. I will admit that maybe he is not completely bad, but I still feel you should get rid of him. I packed loads of sweets and presents for you. Will you be coming home for Christmas?_

_Love, mother._

Draco ignored the insult directed at Ferdox, and went to open his fathers letter.

_Draco,_

_Hope you are okay. Believe me, if that man dumbledore didn’t poke his nose in, Weasley would be in his grave, or a cell in Azkaban, by now. Your mother crammed so much gifts into Spurius’ bag. Don’t eat them all at once. I’ll do what I can about that gamekeeper though._

_Lucius._

Oh right. Christmas was bound to be near. Draco glanced at Ferdox, and thought for a moment. Tiredness overcame him suddenly. He pushed the letters and sweets off him, and pet Ferdox once more before he drifted off.

\-----  
Draco only had one class today, at the last period. Snape made sure of that. It was defence against the dark arts, something that, despite his father’s opinion, Draco quite enjoyed now, due to lupins enthusiasm and fun classes. He walked through the door and sat down at his desk. When lupin walked in, he did a double take of Draco, walked over to Draco's side, and welcomed him back warmly with a kind smile, and whispered that he’d go easy on him for a while, making Draco smile back at lupin.

They focused mostly on the theory side of battling creatures, and mostly listened than writing. When the class was over, Draco went over to lupin.

“thank you, professor. Mind if you give me some page numbers to get back up to speed?”

“Of course, Draco. I'm glad you’re up and working. And another thing that the other teachers have noticed. You’ve been less snobbish and aggressive than previous years, which is good, no offense. Here, look at these pages as work.” Draco laughed at lupins joke, but thought deeply about the less aggressive’ bit. Was it the same thing that he had read about, and heard dumbledore say in Hagrid's hut?

Shit. Hagrid! Draco felt guilty at this. Hagrid, who Draco had insulted, maybe cost him his job, possibly got his hippogriff killed, and had to get him to carry him up to the hospital wing twice. He should go see him. Draco bid goodbye to professor lupin, put his bag into his dormitory, and went outside. He ran into Ferdox on his way down, who was biting the edges of a rabbit tunnel.

**_What are we up to?_ **

_Going to see Hagrid. I need…to…. say sorry, as much as my father would hate._

**_You’re not your father, Draco. If you were, and he’s as much as a bitch as he seems, I would’ve eaten you the first day we met. You are better than him. Seems your teachers think so too._ **

They reached Hagrid's hut, Ferdox hanging back. Draco heard multiple voices inside.

“…an’ I'm positive Lucius will have my head now. That’s twice Malfoy got injured in my class.” He heard Hagrid's sobbing voice, which brought Draco's guilt back and more vengeful then ever. Then, other people spoke up, shocking Draco.

“I'm really sorry Hagrid, I just didn’t think. He was needing a good thumping, but I didn’t think about you, or your job” Ron’s voice sent shivers of rage up Draco's spine. A tremendous yelling came from both Hagrid, and.. Hermione.

“not that hard of a beating, Ron! He did nothin’ wrong!” Hagrid and Hermione shouted. Draco thought now was a good time to knock the door. He did three swift knocks, and inside the hut went silent, before Hagrid answered, startling at seeing Draco there. Behind him, he saw the trios shocked faces, before Hermione rushed under Hagrid and hugged Draco. He froze, not sure what to do.

“Malfoy! You’re ok!” she mumbled into his robes, something that only he could hear. He nervously put his arms around her before they broke apart from each other. She smiled at him, before they went into the hut. Pottah nodded at Malfoy, and weaslebee jus looked at the floor, ignoring his presence. Hagrid was dancing around nervously. He licked his lips, and asked,

“so..what brings ya here, Malfoy?” Draco looked down, before answering.

“I wanted to come and talk to you, Hagrid. And, since granger and Pottah are here”-he turned to them-“ I want to thank you two. Ferdox told me all of it. I…never mind.” Hermione smiled at him, and harry had the slightest of smirks too.

“You’re welcome, Malfoy. Come on, guys, we’ll let Hagrid and Malfoy talk.” With that, they walked out of the hut, and Draco thought he saw Hermione smile at Ferdox as she passed, before the door closed behind. Draco looked back at Hagrid, who was now even more nervous. Draco took a deep breath.

“Hagrid……I wanted to say……..sorry. For all that I did to you. You….didn’t deserve my bitching, or anything else. I may not be good at apologizing….but I can try to be, and try to stop my father from doing anything to you. Can…….you forgive me?” Draco had a harder time saying that than he thought. Hagrid's expression changed from nervousness, to shock, to something that made him beam down on Draco.

“O’ course, Draco. I appreciate it. I heard fro’ other teachers tha’ you were changing. They were right. You’re becoming a lo’ better of a person.

Draco felt warmth in his chest. “thank you, professor.”

Hagrid beamed even more, because Draco had never acknowledged him as a professor before. The two talked for a while, getting distracted with conversations of Ferdox. It became dark out, and before they knew it, Draco had to go back inside. Hagrid thanked him, and watched Draco leave with Ferdox, Draco now carrying a new view on the professor.

\---

Draco sat on the freshly cut lawn, looking out over to the rising hills and mountains, Ferdox by his side, who was looking around the grounds. Slight frost was layered on the ground, but Draco wasn’t cold; Ferdox was practically a living furnace, emitting strong warmth that went through and heated up Draco's bones. It was an early Saturday morning, so no other souls were outside yet.

Except a few, it seemed.

A rat was racing over the tad uneven ground. Ferdox’s head was following its movements, ears pricked, eyes bright. He usually watched and hunted animals before, yes, but this was different. He was watching with a new intent. Then, a lanky, ginger feline ran at full speeds towards the rat, its claws ready to sink into it. But it didn’t catch it, for the rat disappeared under a stone wall, away from sight.

**_Huh……..that’s interesting………_ **

_What's interesting?_

**_That rat….wasn’t a rat….it was a human…..an Animagus.._ **

_What!? It can’t be a student; we don’t know how to do that!_

**_Then we best watch ourselves. If its not a student or teacher, then we could have serious trouble. Should we inform someone else?_ **

_I…don’t think so. I don’t know what's going on, but I don’t think we should get involved just yet. It can’t be Sirius black, so we’ll be ok._

**_Alright then, if ya say so._ **

Draco's conversation with Ferdox was interrupted when he saw someone walk along the grass, in a slow pace. He could see the bushy hair, and knew it was Granger.

_Should I ask her if she wants to come over? We’re not exactly friends, but she’s been pretty nice to me recently.._

**_Sure. Lets see if she wants to._ **

Draco whistled loudly, and Hermione jumped a bit. She looked swiftly up at them, and gave a small smile, before climbing the hill to get to them.

“Hello Malfoy. Hey Ferdox.” Draco gave a nod as she sat down beside him, shaking slightly. Draco saw this, and guessed it was from the cold.

“You cold, Granger? Come sit by Ferdox, he’s giving off more heat than the sun.” Hermione thanked him, moving in more to Ferdox. Their thighs were touching, and soon Draco couldn’t feel her shiver any more.

“So, what brings you out here this fine frosty morning?” Draco asked, looking over at her.

“Just…needed a break. From harry and Ron, from work, from everything. Out here, its nice and peaceful.”

“Mmmm. Cant argue with you there. Me and Ferdox come here most mornings. I like watching the mountains, or the lake. Ferdox agrees too.” the corithial furiously nodded his head, Making them both chuckle. Draco got a weird feeling in his stomach that had been lingering since that potions lesson.

“Can I ask a question, Granger?” he was cautious as he said it, making her turn towards him and look with curiosity.

“What's going on? Me and you are acting like the first two years of bullying and fighting never happened. I feel like I know why _I'm_ acting this way…but why are you?” Hermione thought at this.

“Well…you’re not being a prick, so there is no reason for me to be hateful at you. I personally don’t believe in holding onto unnecessary grudges or rivalries. Over the last while, you’ve become…..a fair bit of fun, actually. Talking in potions, letting me pet Ferdox, apologizing, and even now, you’re not trying to spit poison at me.” They laughed at this for a bit.

“Hagrid told us what you said to him the other day. That was really genuine, for a Malfoy.” She teased, poking him gently on the shoulder.

“Oh, har har, very funny. And thanks, Granger. We…..decent? “he stuck out his hand for her to shake. She smiled, and accepted it. They sat in comfortable silence. Ferdox had now gotten up and went to hunt a rabbit he saw in the grass, leaving the two of them.

“You said that you knew why you’re acting differently. What's up?” Draco hesitated, wondering if he should tell that vulnerable piece of information. Fuck it.

He told her all of what he heard dumbledore said, and what he read. Hermione listened on, intrigued.

“Well, well well….apparently you’ve got a good heart under there!” he chuckled weakly at it.

“I mean it Malfoy, if it’s what dumbledore says it is, then it shows you’re not just a cold Slytherin. I like this side of you. You should show it more often.”

“Not a chance. Also, I'm still going to annoy Weasley, and sometimes potter. And I kind of have to keep up my bad boy side, even though I’ll make an exception for you.” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“One more thing. If its just us, since we don’t want Ron becoming a tomato again, I think…can we….be on a first name basis?” Draco smiled.

“Okay, Hermione.” Draco looked at her, spotting bags under her eyes. It gave him a small feeling of worry. By now, Draco's just aCCeptInG aLl tHeSe NEw wOrRieS.

“Hermione, are you sleeping ok?” she jumped at his blunt question, and began fidgeting.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Haha, that's bullshit. You’ve got bags under you’re eyes. If I don’t know any better, I’d say you’re just diving into schoolwork and never coming out of it. Is my theory close enough, proff?”

Hermione sighed. “Alright fine, you got me. Harry says I've taken in too much classes, and Ron says that I'm not doing anything other than studying.”

“Listen, you’ve gotta take _sleeping_ breaks too, ya know. Cant work right if you’re becoming a zombie or something. Promise either me or potter that you’ll take more rests from now on.” She reluctantly sighed before nodding, and promising him.

\----

Draco excitedly threw on his thick coat, buttoning it up and waiting for Blaise. Today was their trip to Hogsmeade, and Draco wanted to get there as quick as possible to get ahead of the crowds. Blaise came out of the dormitory, his grey hat hanging lopsidedly on his head. They began up the stairs, checked their names off with filch, and started walking up to Hogsmeade.

**_I'm just above you, by the way. Nobody can see me, they’re too busy running._ **

_Glad you could make it, buddy. Anything you want from the stores?_

**_Could go with some of that chocolate, or anything else that's good._ **

_Ok, I’ll have a look around. Stay outta sight, and trouble. Good luck, friend._

**_Hey, the friend saying is my thing you dick! And you stay outta trouble too._ **

Theo and Blaise were idly talking about what they wanted to get, when Draco saw Hermione and Ron a little bit behind them, but catching up. She met his eye, still talking to Ron. Draco mimicked round glasses, trying to ask where Pottah was. She mouthed ‘couldn’t go’ before turning back to Ron. They entered in between the snowy rows of buildings, and their frosted windows. They immediately went into honeydukes first. Thankfully, it wasn’t overflowing yet, as they were some of the first to get there. Draco picked up some more crystallised pineapple and melting marshmallow cakes before getting some chocolate frogs for both him and Ferdox. He sniggered as he thought of Ferdox trying to catch it.

 ** _I’ll have you know that I’ll catch it very easily thank you. And before you ask, I'm on the roof, but it’s that snowy that no one would see me._**

_Good. I'm gonna pick up some more stuff, then I’ll meet you somewhere._

Draco, after asking Theo and Blaise, who were choosing sweets, if it was ok if he could nip round to another shop, left to go to a small pet shop. When he entered, it smelled pleasantly of washed animals. He went over to the counter. An old man was there, tending to some students and their pets. When they left, Draco leaned comfortably on the counter.

“What do you have in here that would be good for a large carnivorous mammal to have?” he asked. The shopkeeper leaned over too, and looked questionably at him.

“What animal?”

“A corithial.” The silence cloaked the building before the shopkeeper eyed him.

“Stop with the messing. I don’t believe the rumours of one with a Hogwarts student. Nice try, though.” Draco did have to admit, it was a pretty unbelievable thing to say.

“Why don’t I show you him? he came with me up here, and is probably hanging around on one of the rooves.” The shopkeeper still looked suspicious, but agreed. He left the shop with Draco, and they went down an alleyway. The shopkeeper looked like someone after they just got pranked, ready to leave, when Ferdox landed beside Draco. The shopkeepers mouth dropped, and he stared at the corithial in front of him. he came roughly to his senses, and asked if he could pet Ferdox, which Draco agreed to. The shopkeepers hand barely grazed Ferdox's snout.

“Sorry to have doubted you. I had no idea the stuff I heard was true. I didn’t even think these guys were real. Come on in, we’ll find something for him. Draco skimmed his arms over Ferdox's back before he left, and saw Ferdox fly into the swirly mist above. Draco and the shopkeeper spent a while looking through the options, and Draco settled on some specially designed treats for thestrals and other large creatures, and a brush that would clean him up, for sometimes Ferdox's fur would get matted and itch. Draco could almost feel the presence of Ferdox above him, flying around in the snowflakes. Draco entered the three broomsticks and looked around for Theo and Blaise. He spotted them in a far corner. He passed granger, Weasley and…potter? Hermione saw him, and shook her head, as to not question harry being there. Harry noticed him too, and looked like a deer in headlights, (prongs son indeed) thinking that Draco was going to tell someone. Draco shrugged his shoulders and went over to sit with his friends. They sat having a few cups of butterbeer and talking. Draco wished he could see Ferdox with butterbeer. He liked sugary stuff. Almost by magic (oh the puns) Theo came over and handed Draco a bottle of butterbeer.

“Here. I've got some more in my pockets, that one can be for Ferdox if he wants it.” Draco thanked him, and they laughed and talked some more, before getting ready to head back to Hogwarts. They trudged through the freshly fallen snow, Draco knowing that Ferdox was up there. When they reached the Hogwarts grounds and were away from the main body of students, Ferdox landed beside him. Draco couldn’t help but laugh at him.

His black mane was now coated white, and his grey fur was heavily speckled.

_Here. Got you some chocolate._

Draco pulled a chocolate wand out of his pocket and gave it to Ferdox, who took it happily. Draco wondered if his boi would like crystallised pineapple or melting marshmallow cakes. Draco already knew that he liked sweet stuff, fruit and about everything else, so sometime he’d have to give them a try.

_Where are you going to stay? Isn’t it cold out here?_

**_Hagrid has a good shed in a bit of the forbidden forest. I sometimes stay there. I'm grand, don’t you worry about me. Winters in Ireland were rougher than this. See ya next time, friend._ **

Ferdox rubbed his snowy head on Draco's coat affectionately, and ran off. Draco went inside to get warmed up.

_See ya, buddy._

_Dear father,_

_Its me, Draco. I'm fine from the incident by the way. I wanted to say that you shouldn’t go after that gamekeeper. I say this because there is no reason to. It wasn’t his fault that I got attacked by that hippogriff, or the out of control Weasley. He helped me with something that is beneficial to us, and I don’t think it’s a good idea. If you want to know, me and Ferdox are getting even better with each other, and are going to start training soon. Tell mother I plan to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas and easter._

_Draco._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Hermione and Draco are on good terms now. Him and Pottah are still going to have a bit of a rivalry, and obviously Ron, but at least Draco's less hostile now, and is friends with one of the best characters in the series (Remus). If you like this, you can show your support with kudos and stuff (god, now I sound like a youtuber).


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Christmas, so Draco opens his presents. He spends time with Ferdox, and begins riding too. they have a bit of a confrontation with the trio. Draco give some gifts, and he and Ferdox goes for a walk in the forbidden forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its Christmas in Hogwarts! I'm not exactly on the right date in real life, I know, but it fits within the storyline. Thank you guys for all the support by the way, it means a lot. Don’t worry, I've got everything planned out, and daily chapters will be up. Lots of love!

Draco woke up to Blaise jumping around. He tightened his grip on the silk blanket around him, and tried to ignore the bouncy ball, but that obviously didn’t work. With a soft sigh, Draco pulled himself out of bed and quickly threw on some warmer clothes and buried his feet in comfy slippers. Draco saw Theo sipping a mug of something while Crabbe and Goyle’s bed were empty. They had gone home over the holidays. Draco noticed his pile of presents, but turned his attention to calming Blaise, who by now was climbing up the wall with a sticky-feet spell. With a bit of help from Theo, they pulled him down and sat him on the bed.

“Can we open our presents now _pleaseeeeee???”_ Blaise whined. With a quick agreement, they tore into the green and silver wrapping paper. Draco's first present was from his mother, who sent him new black and grey robes. They weren’t like dress robes or school robes, but were more casual and tougher. Draco thought these would be excellent to do things with Ferdox, like riding. The next was from his father, who sent him a large book of powerful curses and spells. Even though Draco didn’t want to know ones that were extremely bad, he knew that there would be some pretty useful spells in there. Blaise had somehow gotten him a brand new kind of sweet that Draco had looked out for, called Daskers apple firefrosts, which could both warm you and freeze you. Theo had gotten him a lockable notebook which couldn’t be destroyed. Draco had mentioned to Theo that he wanted somewhere to keep information he found about Ferdox, since the books Draco read only had theories and basic information.

Most surprisingly, though, was that Hagrid had gotten him something. When Draco opened it, a small note fell out.

_Draco,_

_I suppose you didn’t expect me to get you something, but I wanted to. It’ll come in handy._

_Hagrid._

Draco looked at the present. It was a fairly large package, with the bold words “magical equine and creature kit”. Draco smiled. He had to go down to the gamekeeper and thank him. Draco felt a bit bad about not getting Hagrid something though. By now, his friends had finished too, and were pulling on some proper clothes to go downstairs for the breakfast feast. Draco's stomach growled at the thought of food, and began to get changed too.

\---

Draco took a last bite of his breakfast, chatting with some of the other Slytherins. When the feast ended, Draco pulled his hat out of his pocket and went out to find Ferdox. The snow was thick and cold, and mostly untouched. Draco stopped, looked around, and scooped up some snow, moulding it into a ball, and hid it in his jacket. Draco saw Ferdox trotting over as fast as he could, his large claws and hooves sweeping enormous mounds of snow out of his way. Draco watched him come, snowball ready. Then, about ten feet away from Draco, Ferdox slipped in the snow, his front legs collapsing in the cold whiteness. Ferdox just lay there and didn’t get up, shooting Draco glares as Draco almost fell laughing. When Draco had stumbled over, Ferdox got up, snow on his back and head, and shook, splattering Draco with it. He gasped at the freezing attack, and threw the snowball, which hit Ferdox's neck, which he responded to by tipping waves of snow on top of Draco with his wings. Draco was laughing, and Ferdox was letting out a noise that sounded like laughing too. They played in the snow for an hour or two more, before lying down on a hill. Draco lay on his back, and when Ferdox lay too, he put his head on Draco's stomach, warming him. no words were spoken, and the two just listened to birds chirping. Draco had gone back to a habit of stroking Ferdox, and he didn’t mind. After a bit of silence, Draco spoke up.

_When should we start riding? I've heard its quite good._

**_It is good, yea. I've seen wizards and witches with thestrals and unicorn mounts before. Imagine that they would be riding across the battlefield, firing their wands. It’d be cool if we could do that. How about we start now?_ **

_Sure. I'm down for it._

They stood up, dusting the snow off of them. They were on a flat area of ground, with a minimal amount of snow. Good enough for riding.

_Ok….how do I get on?_

**_Try holding onto my mane and pulling yourself up. Use my leg as a step._ **

Draco grabbed the end of Ferdox's mane tightly, and put his other hand on Ferdox's back. Ferdox had bent his front leg so that Draco could use it as a boost. He braced himself and jumped up, nearly sliding over the other side. He swung his right leg over Ferdox's back, and sat up as straight as he could, and as close as he could, behind the wing-joint. Ferdox's back was soft, yet hard at the same time. Normally, it would feel weird to sit like this, but Draco rides a broomstick, so he knows the feeling already.

**_Well done! How do ya feel?_ **

_Bit unsteady, but ok. Should we try to move?_

With that, Ferdox slowly began to walk forward. Draco felt himself rocking with each step Ferdox took, as if it was threatening Draco to fall off. But he sat on Ferdox's back fairly well. They went round in a big circle as they both got used to each other.

_I hope I'm not too heavy for you._

**_Nonsense. you’re forgetting how strong I am, Draco. You’re quite light._ **

_Good. Should we go into a trot?_

**_Ok. 3…2…1…._ **

Ferdox went into a trot slowly.

Oh holy shit.

It was extremely bouncy, Ferdox's back jolting up and down with each stride. Draco couldn’t hold on, and was about to tip off. He slid over the wings and down the side of Ferdox's neck, and was stopped when Ferdox's wing went under him, supporting his chest.

_Sweet merlin’s beard, that was bad. How am I supposed to stay on?!_

**_I have no idea, didn’t know it would be that bouncy for you. You ok?_ **

_Yea, I'm 90% sure my balls weren’t burst, thank god._

**_Haha. Yea, that wouldn’t be good-………… the trio are watching us from the hill, and are walking down. What should we do?_ **

_Shit, I'm stuck. How do I get down?_

**_Like this._ **

Ferdox pulled his wing from out under Draco. There was a few seconds of him hanging around Ferdox's neck before he fell lightly into the snow. Draco got up quickly, and saw the trio laughing a bit. Most likely at him falling. They came over, and Hermione shot Draco a secret smile. Weaslebee didn’t really look at Draco, just at the snow around them.

“Nice fall Malfoy. What even happened?” potter asked, looking at the snow-covered Draco. He felt his cheeks get a bit hot.

“Nothing potter, just slipped a bit.”

“You starting to ride?” Hermione asked him, a hint of a smile still on her face.

“Yea, and I need practice.” Draco noticed that Pottah was staring at Ferdox, who was staring back.

**_What does this guy want? He’s just staring at me. Is he ok?_ **

“Hey Pottah, why are you staring at Ferdox?” harry jumped a bit, before shyly looking over at Draco, and back to Ferdox again.

“Well, I haven’t seen him up close before. Sorry if I'm freaking him out or something. So his names Ferdox?” Draco wanted to question potter being civilised to him, but continued on.

“Yea, me and him came up with it. why?” potter was silent for a moment, before saying,

“Its nice.” Ron scoffed at Harry’s answer, but got an elbow in the ribs for it. harry looked nervous, glancing in between Draco and Ferdox.

“Well…. I was just wondering… why did you let Hermione pet him? and why none of the name calling or teasing?” Draco hid his shock quickly. His father told him to always have a poker face.

“Uh.. well, she wanted to pet him, and Ferdox didn’t mind, so we thought it was alright. And I thought….you guys might not need the teasing as much. Unless you want it to come back, of course.” Harry shook his head quickly, and offered Draco a small smile.

_Is it ok if I ask Pottah if he wants to pet you?_

**_Sure, as long as tomato bastard doesn’t._ **

“Hey Pottah, if you want, you can pet Ferdox.” Harry looked surprised, hesitated a bit, before walking forward and reaching an arm out to Ferdox, who let harry pet his muzzle. Harry smiled and pulled back. Draco noticed Ron roll his eyes.

“Got a problem with anything, Weasley?” Ron glared at him. Draco was more than happy to glare back.

**_I've never tasted human or tomato before. Guess this might be the time to try it._ **

It took everything Draco had not to burst out laughing at Ferdox's remark. He kept a straight face, still glaring at weaslebee, while harry and Hermione were silent, and Ferdox's ears were almost flat against the back of his head. Draco decided to break the tension, and smirked at Ron suddenly. Draco then turned to harry and Hermione, and wished them a happy Christmas. Draco walked past Hermione as he went to go up the hill.

As he walked past her, he took her present and slipped it inside her pockets, and gave a small grin at her. As Draco walked up the hill, Ferdox at his side, he felt something new and wrapped inside his own pocket. Draco turned into an outside hallway, opened it, and saw a medium sized book. He smiled at it, began walking to nowhere in particular outside, and put _training and riding your magical beasts_ into his pocket.

\---

Draco and Ferdox walked around the grounds for a bit, until they reached the end of the forbidden forest. Draco had only been in there once as a detention, but, as it was daytime, he was older, and had Ferdox, he got a longing to venture in.

_Can we go into the forest?_

**_Yea, ok. I go in there quite often now. It doesn’t scare me._ **

They walked over tree roots and fallen snow, going fairly deep into the forest, the lights of the dim sun casting rare, weak rays of light to the floor. It was very peaceful. Draco knew there was werewolves, centaurs and probably more dangerous things in here, but he didn’t care. They turned back soon, following Ferdox's senses and how much stronger the light was. They happily zigzagged around, talking to each other. When they got back to the edge of the forest, Draco said goodbye to Ferdox, who licked Draco's hand, said goodbye, and trotted back into the forest. Draco went up to the towering school as it started to snow again. Draco found himself thinking about food again, and realised it was a few minutes until Christmas dinner, and he couldn’t miss that. As he walked through the great wooden hall doors, Draco wondered if Hermione had liked her specialised addition of _transfiguration and other good spells of the millennia_ book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. I actually ride horses, so at least I know exactly what Draco's going through, and making it accurate-ish. Also, they are such cinnamon rolls.


	8. An apology

Sorry for the long wait guys, havent been feeling my best recently, but I'll be sure to get back to writing as soon as i can. Hope yall are doing well. 


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco works through his classes, meets with Ferdox after lunch, does homework in the library, has a training session with Ferdox and gets a flashback/nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! Hope you enjoy this next chapter. Also, you can find this story in Wattpad too, where I have put up a picture of Ferdox. Hope yall are doing well in these times.
> 
> My username- Firdoxsrevolver

Draco slung his bag over his shoulder and picked himself up from his seat in the great hall. It was the start of his first class soon, which was potions. He began walking down the stone steps towards the dungeons, Blaise and Theo at his side. Pansy was running after them, calling out Draco's name. He sighed, and ignored her as the classes filed into Snape’s room.

His eyes caught with Hermione’s for a split second, before both of them were forced to keep moving due to the wave of students. A pang of something hit inside Draco. He rolled his eyes, not bothering to care about that, and his gaze wandered up to snape, who was glaring at the students one by one.

“Now class, today we are going to be doing something similar to the working plans a while ago, where you would work with someone who was equal to your potions skills. But this time, we will pair the people who are the opposite to each other. I am going to give you a chance to do this yourselves; so choose a partner, and quickly.”

Draco stayed where he was, like half the students, letting others sit beside them. No one came over to him for a while, which Draco didn’t completely mind. By now, most of the students were partnered up. Draco thought he was going to be alone for this, until someone nervously sat beside him. Draco glanced up, looking at Longbottom’s quaking figure.

“H-h-hey Malfoy, is i-it ok if I work with you?” he was stuttering and shaking, his eyes flitting back and forth.

**_Aww, poor wee pup. Can we adopt him? He’s so innocent.._ **

Draco had to hide his spluttered chuckle, in case Longbottom fainted with nervousness, which, by now, was becoming a very real possibility.

_No, Ferdox. We’re not adopting anyone._

**_Ya gonna have mercy on him, O lord frightful?_ **

_Oh har har. Yea, ok, I’ll go easy on him.  
_ Draco gave a small nod at Longbottom, who relaxed slightly. Snape had already wrote the instructions on the board, so they gathered their ingredients and began to work. It began to be extremely obvious to Draco that Longbottom was probably one of the worst people to be working on a medium-difficulty potion. He was dropping and spilling things, cutting with a lopsided knife, and even mixing up instructions. It annoyed Draco, but at the same time, he pitied Longbottom. Merlin, he was starting to sound like Ferdox.

**_Ah, there you go. Go help the little fawn. Try not to bite his hand off though._ **

_Oh fuck you. Keep going on like that, and I’ll stop giving you chocolate._

**_Keep going on like that, and I’ll stop the blood flow to your heart._ **

_Jeez, ok! Calm the fuck down, but please stop with the commenting like that._

**_Ok. Sorry. But be nice to him. I know you have It in you._ **

“uh, Malfoy…y-you ok there?” Draco snapped back from his mind, seeing Longbottom looking worried and even a bit concerned.

“Yea, yea, I'm fine, just spaced out for a bit. You were saying?” “ _really gotta work on that”_ he thought. Longbottom was frenzily cutting up toad’s warts. Draco carefully took the knife from him, and guided him through the cutting. He gave the knife back, and observed Longbottom cutting them, now with much better shape. Longbottom sighed gratefully, and tipped the now ready ingredients into the cauldron, which made it turn a blinding blue before dulling to a maroon shade. They were getting there.

Throughout the lesson, Draco held his tongue back as much as he could, and helping or taking over for Longbottom when needed, sometimes lending tips or instructions. He couldn’t help the random snarky comment or slags, but at least he was dulling them down. When snape walked around the class inspecting the potions to be finished, he looked into the greeny-brown potion that Draco and Neville had made. He grunted, and dismissed them, saying that their potions was acceptable for his tastes. Longbottom had a shocked face all through packing up, probably the only time that he managed to scrape through in potions. As Draco picked his bag up, ready to walk out, Longbottom stopped him, nervously scratched his head, and uttered a quiet thanks. Draco let out a small smile and a nod, and whispered that Longbottom still had a long way to becoming perfect, which made Longbottom turn scarlet. Draco chuckled under his breath, and headed out of the dreary classroom.

\---

Draco yawned loudly and shifted his feet from atop the of the table, letting his eyelids close for a moment. He found professor Binn’s class almost excruciating. He was fairly interested in the subject, and took it in pretty easily, but the ghost teachers never-ending voice seemed to lull him to sleep. Bored and slightly ticked, he turned to Blaise.

“Oi, got anything worth it?” Draco muttered to him. Blaise gave a criminal grin, before diving a hand into his robe pocket and pulling out a magically controlled roach. Draco's face split into a wide smile, and Blaise set it underneath them, and it crawled over to a bunch of Hufflepuff girls, who were talking quietly. One was picking up fallen books when she noticed the roach, and let out a glass-cracking scream which jerked some students awake, others jumped, some leaned in to see what was going on, and even professor Binns floated around. The rest of the Hufflepuff girls saw the roach skittering around, and jumped atop the tables, screaming and kicking. Other students, too, were pulling their feet up, while some where laughing and trying to stomp on it, or throwing weak spells at it. Binns seemed very mad, and looked around the classroom. He tried to quiet the class down, but his meek voice was drowned out by the other noises. The bell rung at that moment, and some of the students grabbed their things and sprinted out of the door for their dear lives. Blaise and Draco slipped out amidst the others, still chortling from the roach. Blaise swiftly walked over and scooped it up before the professor could see him, and stuffed it inside his pocket once more. Theo joined them, his face alight with amusement as they made their way down to the great hall for dinner.

\---

Draco grabbed some sweet buns on his way out of the hall, and headed out of the corridors to the grounds, looking around for Ferdox. He saw him in a small clump of trees, clawing at the bark. His horse-like head jerked over to Draco's direction, and Draco could almost see the animalistic grin on his snout as he galloped over. Over the past month or so, they had been practicing their riding a lot, and it showed. Hermione's book had really helped him; he would’ve never been able to sit through the trot if the book hadn’t said that clutching with his thighs helped his hold, or that he should keep a straight back most of the time. They were working through their canter right now, and Draco found it easier than the trot.

_Hey bud. How’re you doing?_

**_Fair enough. What about you? I saw that cockroach incident. It looked pretty funny. Watcha got next_ ** _?_

_Uhh…herbology, I think. Afterwards, I gotta do homework, but you wanna practice our riding later?_

**_Sure. You’re doin’ quite good now. Not sliding off like butter anymore._ **

_Yea. Oh, that reminds me, I've still got those bottles of butterbeer in my trunk. You gotta try them sometime. I've got some sweet pastries in my pocket if you want them._

**_Sounds good. And of course I want them, do you not know me by now?_ **

_Haha, fair enough. Here._

Draco pulled the pastries out of his pocket, sugar sprinkling around his robes. He put his hand out to Ferdox, who leaned his neck and head in, and picked the sweet treat up with his front teeth, and seemingly inhaled it. he looked as thoughtful as he could, before nodding, deciding that he liked it. These food samplings had become somewhat of a regular thing with them. At one point, Draco even managed to smuggle out some tomato slices, which Ferdox had replied by saying that he wasn’t allowed to eat the Weasley kid. He eventually tasted it, but immediately grimaced and spat it on the grass. Draco wasn’t fond of tomatoes either.

From behind him, the bell sounded faintly. Draco got up from the grass, dusting his robes off, and pet Ferdox's neck, whispered goodbye, got Ferdox's head shoved into his stomach affectionately, and picked his bag up and went back inside the castle for his next class. 

\---

It was the last class of the day, and Draco just wanted it to be over as the students trooped into the charms class. Professor Flitwick was happily looking through the body of students as they sat in their seats. Draco's seat was on one of the top rows, overlooking most of the classroom. He looked down, seeing the back of Hermione's bushy hair, Potter’s slumped shoulders and weaslebee’s fiery locks.

Flitwick danced and jumped around when teaching, which Draco found quite weird, but he guessed the small man might not like to sit still. They were practicing the colour-changing spell, and Draco could see from the edge of his gaze that Hermione was rapidly making her purple cloth turn a soothing orange. Draco focused on his cloth, which was a light blue. He muttered the incantation and pointed his wand at it, and after a few tries, the cloth turned a far darker shade, almost nearing a black colour. From beside him, Theo was trying with a vivid pink cloth, which slowly was getting lighter. Blaise wasn’t making too much progress with his peach one, and from the other side of the room, Finnegan had somehow managed to light his on fire. If that guy didn’t get a masters in pyrotechnics, then his name wasn’t Draco.

Flitwick bounced around the classroom, inspecting each student’s cloth and giving marks. As expected, when he reached Hermione, he preached his praises. When he got round to Draco, he gave his approval at the now black cloth. As the final bell of the day went, Draco packed his bag, chatting with Blaise and Theo. They went down to the Slytherin common room and dropped their bags off. Draco gathered some other books that he needed for his homework afternoon, bid goodbye to his friends, and headed to the library.

Draco sat at one of the secluded back tables and set his books at the side. He picked up his defence against the dark arts book, and began his essay on hinkypunks. He worked through that fairly quickly, and moved on to his arithmancy test. He didn’t quite like the subject, but bore through it because his mother wanted him to do it for some reason. His father, thankfully, didn’t have any suggestions for Draco's education, other than for him to get a good one. So far, Draco was achieving his fathers wishes.

A few essays and homework tasks later, Draco found himself glaring at an ancient runes question that he just couldn’t cop onto. He looked through as much of his books as he could, but was drawing a blank. He was ready to let Ferdox burn it before someone leaned over his shoulder and softly said,  
“The answers on page 394.” Draco jumped violently, and almost punched Hermione in the face, only stopping himself by cursing loudly, making some people look up. Hermione snickered and sat down at a table near to him. still scowling, he turned to the given page number, scanned up and down, and found an answer that fit quite well. He nodded at Hermione as thanks, and she offered him a friendly smile. Draco went back to his books, often stealing glances over to Hermione, who was working quietly and quickly. Draco closed the heavy cover of his workbook, now done with his homework, and lifted the pile of books. He couldn’t be bothered to put them in his bag, and the dorms weren't too far away; he would just carry them. He walked past Hermione, lightly brushing past her chair, and pushed the library door open. He walked down the hallways, descending down stairs and clearly saying the passcode to the painting that blocked the doorway to the common room. He dumped his stuff on his bed, and opened his trunk, pulling out his riding clothes. He got changed quickly and started up to the grounds.

\---

Draco wandered pleasantly around, looking for Ferdox.

_Where are you, buddy?_

**_Coming now, hang on._ **

Draco easily turned around, seeing Ferdox gliding over, his hooves and claws ruffling the grass. As he drew nearer, Draco noticed that Ferdox had something around the corners of his mouth. Ferdox went to do his usual greeting ritual, but Draco dodged it and looked at the substance on Ferdox's mouth. He recognised it. chocolate.

_Where’d you get chocolate?_

**_The nice werewolf. He was wandering around, and saw me. I think he likes me._ **

_Yea, I suppose he knows his stuff, being a DADA teacher. But you should watch your diet, because I don’t think I’ll be able to hold on if you get to the size of a monster bubble._

**_Mm, but it is tasty. Anyways, you ready?_ **

_Yep. Lets get going._

Draco walked over to Ferdox's withers (where the bottom of the mane starts, behind the shoulders), gently clutched his mane, and used Ferdox's lifted foot to boost himself up as he swung his leg over and sat up. He told Ferdox that he was all ready to go, and they started at a brisk walk that moved into a speedy trot, and then a canter. Draco held tighter with his legs, and leaned very slightly into Ferdox's mane. They cantered around for a while, until Ferdox asked if Draco wanted to dare a gallop. Swallowing his slight nervousness down, he accepted. Ferdox gave a wide turn, starting off at a canter that soon built up to a full sprint across the cut lawn of the grounds. Draco found it even easier than a canter. He relaxed his back and looked around the trees and rocks flying past. They were off their regular beaten track, now coming to the halfway mark of circling the school, but Draco found it quite enjoyable. He was amazed at how fast Ferdox could actually go, and wondered how fast he could fly.

**_Quite fast, I think. But hold your horses, we aint there yet. We probably want to work on sudden turns and jumps first, maybe even bucking._ **

_Yea, you’re right. But we are making good progress though. Are you not getting tired?_

**_Nope. I could run for days. How about you?_ **

_Eh, I'm doing good. Its getting late though, and I don’t wanna ride in the dark if that's ok._

They gradually slowed down as they reached their usual running track, and Draco slipped off, rubbing his thighs to get Ferdox's grey fur strands off of him. they walked over to the lake and sat under a large tree, looking over the sun setting that cast a shimmering, orange glow over the rippling water. Ferdox huffed contentedly, and Draco ran his fingers through Ferdox's midnight black mane.

\----

_Draco stood against the back wall, trembling and shaking. He crawled under the side table, hugging his knees, unable to take his eyes off of what was happening in front of him. his father had earlier invited some of his ‘colleagues’ over for a business talk, but it turned sour very quickly. One of them had made his father very angry, and the opposer was now writhing on the floor like a snapping spring, screaming and howling. Draco felt tears run down his face. His father either hadn’t noticed him, or didn’t care for he was too involved in the man jerking on the floor. Lucius occasionally let out small gasps of mock surprise and quiet sounds of laughter, still pointing his wand at the man. Whether he got bored or forgave the man, Draco did not know, but his father had stopped hurting the man. He jumped up, the sweat still running like a river off of his face, before Lucius quietly threatened the man, who looked terrified and fled. Lucius now turned his attention to his son, who was still huddled underneath the table. Lucius shown a sickeningly sweet smile, resembling a shark in front of a fish._

_“Draco, my boy, did you witness that?” Draco knew not to disobey, so he forced himself to nod._

_Lucius smiled again. “That man is a disappointment, and look at where that got him. I hope you won’t be a disappointment, or else..well..you saw.” Draco nodded again, shaking even more, before Lucius dismissively waved a hand, and Draco dashed for the hall, ignoring everything else except the door to his bedroom as he hurled it open…_

Draco shot upright in his bed, grasping his soaking chest and running a hand through his snowy-platinum hair. Everyone else was still asleep, thank merlin. Draco, suddenly feeling too confined and hot, threw off his shirt and blankets. Sighing, he used the shirt to mop up the remaining sweat on his back and chest, before chucking it to the bottom of the bed and letting himself fall back onto his pillow, staring at the ceiling.


End file.
